Take that Connecticut! Ohio lawmakers vote to back Wrights as first in flight

Posted: 2:42 pm Wednesday, December 9th, 2015

By Staff Writer

The Ohio Senate on Wednesday voted unanimously for a resolution that essentially tells Connecticut to go fly a kite.
In 2013, Connecticut leaders moved to claim that Bridgeport resident Gustave Whitehead was the first in flight, doing so in 1901 — two years before Dayton’s Wright Brothers did it in December 1903. Connecticut changed its powered Flight Day holiday to honor Whitehead, instead of Wilbur and Orville Wright.
Ohio and North Carolina have been fighting back since then.
On Wednesday, state Sen. Bill Beagle, R-Tipp City, muttered under his breath “Connecticut!” as he took a unanimous voice vote from his Ohio Senate colleagues in favor of the resolution that repudiates the Whitehead claim and asserts that the Wright Brothers are the rightful heroes of powered flight.